Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 41 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . Since , the regression residual vector is . A linear transformation of a multivariate normal distribution is again multivariate normal, soThis is a singular multivariate normal distribution supported on , with dimension . In particular,Consequently regression residuals are neither independent nor identically distributed even under the stated model. Their linear constraints include , and, if the design matrix contains an intercept, their sum is zero.
Choose an orthonormal basis of the residual space. The coordinates of in that basis are independent variables, provingFor , is an unbiased estimator of . Orthogonality of and gives zero cross-covariance, so the Gaussian fitted and residual vectors are independent. This explains why an appropriate residual-versus-fitted diagnostic has no systematic mean relationship under the model. If , no residual information remains for these diagnostics or the variance estimate.
For , use standardized regression residuals to account for the different residual variances. The diagonal is the regression leverage; makes that residual identically zero and cannot be diagnosed by this standardization. With known , the corresponding individually standardized residual has an exact standard normal distribution. With estimated , the internally studentized residual is not exactly normal or a Student t-distribution, and the residuals remain correlated; a normal reference plot is a diagnostic approximation.
Plot the regression residuals or standardized regression residuals against fitted values and each covariate. A persistent curve suggests a misspecified mean, while a fan-shaped spread suggests heteroscedasticity; a scale-location plot helps separate these. A quantile-quantile plot against normal quantiles checks tails, skewness and possible regression outliers. Plot residuals against observation order or time to look for unexplained serial patterns, recognizing that projection already induces the displayed residual covariances. Inspect regression leverage together with Cook's distance for influential observations. Such patterns motivate revising the model; absence of a visible pattern does not prove all its assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 38 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the flight distance in millimetres for paper level , launch-angle level , design level and replicate , where and . The full factorial design is fitted by the normal linear modelThe assumptions are independent errors with a common variance and normal distribution, and the displayed factor-combination mean structure. The corner-point constraints areand whenever at least one index equals . Thus the eight free mean coefficients are . These treatment coding coefficients are comparisons at the other factors' reference levels, rather than necessarily averaged main effects.
To test the three-factor interaction term, compare the full model with the model retaining all main effects and all two-factor interactions. The null hypothesis is , against a nonzero value. Removing it increases the residual sum of squares by and removes one parameter. With eight residual degrees of freedom, the nested-model F-test givesThere is no evidence that this three-factor interaction is needed. This does not establish that all two-factor interactions vanish: the paper-design interaction is substantial.
The
stepAIC command performs stepwise selection by the Akaike information criterion. Its upper scope is the full factorial model and its lower scope is the intercept-only model. Starting from the full model, it compares admissible additions and deletions, preserving the hierarchy of interaction terms, and chooses changes that reduce the Akaike information criterion. With the supplied scope its default search permits both directions. For these Gaussian fits the displayed criterion, up to constants common to all models, is , where counts mean coefficients. The first deletion changes it from to : the small increase in residual sum of squares is outweighed by removing a parameter. This is a greedy model selection procedure, not an exhaustive search or a sequence of fixed-level hypothesis tests. The command's arguments are described in the MASS documentation.For the selected model, let and . Thenindependently between flights. It has no angle term. The maximum-likelihood estimates of its mean coefficients are also obtained by ordinary least squares:For example, the four fitted means are just the four paper-design cell means, each averaging four flights over the angle levels. With , the variance-covariance matrix of the coefficient estimates is . Its diagonal gives the displayed standard errors; their ratios are , with mm.
The final line of
summary(model2.lm) is the joint nested-model F-test of , comparing this four-parameter model with a common mean. Its statistic iswith F-distribution under the fixed-model null and P-value . Thus the selected paper-design terms jointly improve the fit substantially. The coefficient of determination means they account for about of the observed centred variation. These nominal inferential summaries do not adjust for the preceding model selection on the same data.Using the unrounded fitted means givesin millimetres. Hence choose the high-performance design with the lighter paper; the fitted model leaves both launch angles tied, with expected distance about mm. A preference for one angle is not supported by this selected model. The strong paper-design interaction reverses the design comparison: the simple design is better on heavy paper, whereas the high-performance design is better on light paper. Consequently a single design effect averaged over paper types would conceal the main result. There is little evidence here for an angle effect, and considerable flight-to-flight variability remains.
Before fitting, inspect raw-distance dot plots for all eight factor combinations, and interaction plots of cell means against design, with separate lines for paper and panels for angle. With only two replicates per cell, showing individual observations is more informative than elaborate box plots. These reveal reversals, spread and possible unusual flights. Afterwards inspect a residual-versus-fitted plot, a Q-Q plot of residuals, a scale-location plot, residuals against each factor and, if recorded, flight order, and Cook's distance for influential observations. Residual patterns by angle would question its deletion, while unequal spread or departures from the normal distribution would question the error assumptions rather than merely demand another mean term.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 33 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The ordinary least squares objective has gradient . The normal equation therefore givesThe Gram matrix is a positive-definite matrix because has full column rank. More explicitly, for any ,since . This proves that the displayed solution is the unique global minimum.
The fitted values are , where the hat matrix isThe inverse of the symmetric matrix is symmetric, so . Multiplication gives . Thus is the orthogonal projection onto the column space of the design matrix.
The regression residual vector is with . Consequently , , and the residual sum of squares isBy fitted-residual orthogonality, . Using , the cross-covariance matrix isBoth vectors are jointly normal, so they are also independent by independence of uncorrelated jointly normal variables. The zero covariance calculation itself only needs the common error variance and lack of error correlations.
For the first wind fit, let be wind velocity and electrical output. The simple linear regression is , with independent . It has two fitted mean parameters and residual degrees of freedom. The missing analysis of variance entries are therefore velocity degrees of freedom , velocity mean square , and residual degrees of freedom . The residual mean square is , and , consistent with the printed value after rounding.
Because the model includes a regression intercept, the coefficient of determination is the explained sum of squares divided by the total centered sum of squares:A large coefficient of determination does not rule out a wrong mean function. In the PDF's first residual-versus-fitted plot, residuals are negative at both ends and positive in the middle. This curved pattern agrees with the visibly flattening output-versus-velocity relationship and motivates a polynomial regression with a quadratic term.
The second wind model is , again with independent common-variance normal errors. Its fitted mean is . The line marked (A) is a two-sided Student t-test of against , conditional on retaining the intercept and linear term. Under the null hypothesis,Its two-sided p-value is . This is far below , so reject a purely linear mean in favour of the quadratic fit. Equivalently, the extra-term nested-model F-test has and null law .
The third fit is a reciprocal-predictor regression, , with estimated mean . It has two mean parameters rather than the quadratic model's three. Its residual standard error is smaller, versus , and its coefficient of determination is larger, versus . The corresponding residual sums of squares are approximately and . The reciprocal fit is preferable on both these fit measures and parsimony. The two models are not nested, so an ordinary extra-term F-test between them is inappropriate. On the common normal-error likelihood, the difference also favours the third model.
Neither lower residual sum of squares nor a higher coefficient of determination establishes adequate assumptions. The quadratic residual-versus-fitted plot removes the original pronounced curvature; the reciprocal plot also has no comparably obvious mean trend. The low-output residuals appear somewhat more spread out, so check scale-location plots and residuals against velocity for heteroscedasticity. Q-Q plots assess normality; residuals against observation order assess serial dependence; regression leverage and Cook's distance identify influential observations. Further cross-validation, replicate observations at comparable velocities, and prediction errors would help choose between their extrapolation behaviours. Both fitted shapes should be judged principally over the observed positive-velocity range.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 33 6 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The statistician first models the age- and gender-dependent mean by linear regression. Its fitted value is . At fixed gender, a year of age is associated with a decrease of BMI units; the group coded gender has a fitted mean units above the group coded at the same age. This question does not state which gender receives which code. The intercept refers to age zero in the reference group, outside a typical adult-patient range, so its substantive interpretation is limited. Both slope Student t-tests have small p-values, and the overall F-test supports an age/gender-dependent mean. The coefficient of determination is only , leaving considerable individual variation to investigate.
The residual diagnostics check whether mean adjustment is plausible and whether a single normal error law is adequate. The residual-versus-fitted plot has no strong curved mean trend, although its smooth curve is not perfectly flat. The scale-location plot suggests some decline in spread as fitted BMI increases, so common residual variance is a working approximation rather than an established fact. The normal Q-Q plot has systematic departures, notably shorter tails than the normal reference, suggesting the residual law is not exactly normal. The regression leverage plot does not display an obviously extreme leverage point, but the marked observations and Cook's distance should still be checked for influence. Independence between patients cannot be diagnosed from these four plots alone.
Next the statistician extracts the regression residuals and fits an intercept-only normal model as a baseline residual distribution. With an intercept in the original ordinary least squares model, the residuals sum to zero by the normal equation; the near-zero fitted residual mean and its are therefore automatic, not new evidence of good fit. The standard error in this refit uses degrees of freedom, whereas the original uses after estimating three regression coefficients. The reported log-likelihood for the single-normal residual model is .
The histogram suggests a shape worth exploring beyond one normal density, with broad shoulders and some asymmetry, without showing unambiguous separated clusters. The statistician fits two- and three-component finite Gaussian mixtures with a common variance by the expectation-maximization algorithm, starting from separated means and positive weights. Successive likelihoods increase and the displayed final iterations stabilize, as expected from EM likelihood monotonicity. This is evidence of numerical convergence from those starts, not proof of a global maximum.
The two-component fit assigns weights , residual means and common variance . The three-component fit assigns weights , residual means and common variance . The code correctly passes the square roots of those variances to
dnorm and overlays the resulting weighted densities. Both curves broadly follow the histogram and are very similar. In particular, a two-component mixture need not have two distinct visible modes.These fits explore residual mixture clustering: groups differ in BMI relative to the same age/gender-adjusted mean, rather than simply in raw BMI. Membership can be summarized by the fitted mixture responsibilities, retaining uncertainty instead of asserting a certain label for each patient. The common-variance assumption is economical, but should be checked; the common regression slope assumption and constancy of mixture proportions across age and gender are also substantive. A residual mixture alone does not establish genuine biological subpopulations; a flexible continuous distribution, missing predictors, nonlinear mean effects or heteroscedasticity could explain a similar marginal shape.
There is also a two-stage residual mixture fitting limitation. Fitted regression residuals are not exactly independent identically distributed observations: even under a normal regression, their covariance matrix is , and estimating the mean adjustment introduces uncertainty. With subjects and three initial regression coefficients, treating them as independent is a useful approximation for exploring shape, but ordinary mixture likelihoods omit the first-stage uncertainty. A joint mixture regression with shared slopes, or a suitable bootstrap of the whole analysis, would give a firmer basis for parameter uncertainty and cluster selection. Examine component membership versus age/gender and repeat the algorithm from multiple starts before making substantive clustering claims.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 206 2 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Check that the chosen mean structure adequately describes the transformed response. Examine the residual-versus-fitted plot and residuals versus each predictor: systematic curvature suggests omitted nonlinear effects or an interaction term. Plot residual spread against fitted values, for example using a scale-location plot, to assess homoscedasticity. Compare standardized residuals with a normal distribution using a quantile-quantile plot, especially for finite-sample Student's t-distribution and F-test inference.
Also check independence using the sampling design and residuals versus time, collection site, or other groups; spatially related photovoltaic systems may have correlated errors that are invisible in a residual-versus-fitted plot. Investigate large standardized regression residuals, high regression leverage, and influential observations using Cook's distance. Check that the design matrix has full rank and that severe multicollinearity is not making estimates unstable. Reassess whether the response transformation and retained predictors improve these diagnostics and prediction; a coefficient p-value alone cannot establish model adequacy. If observations are independent only conditional on site effects, use an appropriate dependence model rather than treating correlated systems as independent replicates.